Thursday, January 26, 2012

Envelope Book for Budgeting

This year my goal is become better at budgeting. So to do this I researched a lot of systems. I decided that the system I would like to try was the Envelope system. This system seemed a little hard as using a debt card is so convenient.So what I decided was, I would pay all of my bill via the bill pay through my bank. Then from there I pull out the cash for all my other purchases.

I had to sit down and write down all of my other expenses. This is the list that I came up with
  1. Car Maintenance
  2. CoPays
  3. Date Nights
  4. Diaper/Wipes
  5. Dog Food
  6. Gas
  7. Groceries
  8. My Lunch
  9. Pest Techs - Awesome pest control business.
  10. Hygiene products-soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper
  11. Laundry/dishwasher soap
  12. Tithing
 From here I had to come up with how much I would need in these different areas to last us a month. (you can do it biweekly if you like)

Once I got that all figured out, I made an envelope for each category. My husband and I decided that at the end of the month, we should put the remaining cash from each envelope, in a rainy day fund, which is an envelope as well. This cash would be used only if had a "uneveloped" product or emergency we had to pay for. I thought this was a great idea


So here is how I have organized my envelopes. I have mine in alphabetical order.


We went on our first shopping trip and things went pretty well. When you purchase multiple items at once just review your receipt and decided how much money you spent in each area and place the remaining amount back.(This will be the main part that will help you break away from the envelope system later on)

The book is pretty easy just get some envelopes and some ribbon, cord, or yard. Punch holes in the envelopes then thread the ribbon through the holes. Make sure you don't have the ribbon too tight or it will not lay open like this

  Make sure you write on the envelopes how much money you have in each envelope. This will come in handy when you are putting the remaining amount of money in each envelope.
I hope this helps you. It has really helped us out so far. 
If you have any additional hints or ideas comment below. I would love to hear them.

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